Newborn left in hot car dies of severe hyperthermia, Illinois officials say. Mom charged (original) (raw)

The 1-month-old child was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.Getty Images/iStockphoto

A 1-month-old child died after being left in a hot car for an extended period of time, Illinois officials said.

“You can’t sugarcoat it,” Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said while announcing the child’s death Sept. 17, the Journal Star reported. “I can’t make it sound any better. I have no silver lining here today, unfortunately.”

The Peoria Police Department said they were dispatched to a home Sept. 16 for a report of a “deceased baby.”

Officers found the baby “unresponsive and not breathing,” and he was pronounced dead at the scene, police said. He was identified by the coroner as Grayson Luncsford, of Chicago.

“An autopsy on little Grayson demonstrates that he suffered gross neglect due to severe hyperthermia (exposure to extreme heat) and profound dehydration,” Harwood said.

Police arrested the child’s mother, 25-year-old Andrea Luncsford. She was charged with endangering the health and life of a child, police said.

An investigation is ongoing to determine how long the child was left in the car. It’s believed Grayson was left there for at least four hours, WEEK-TV reported.

“I’ve been in the job for eight years and very few things have made me that upset and hit me like that,” Harwood said, according to WMBD.

Peoria is about a 165-mile drive southwest from Chicago.

What to know about Hot Car Deaths

More than 950 children have died in hot cars since 1998, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

“About 40 children a year die from heatstroke, either because they were left or became trapped in a car,” officials said. “That’s about one child every 10 days killed in a hot car.”

Hot car deaths are most common in the summer, but they can happen at any time, according to the administration. The first “vehicular heatstroke” of the year typically happens in March.

“Leaving a window open is not enough - temperatures inside the car can rise almost 20 degrees Fahrenheit within the first 10 minutes, even with a window cracked open,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said.

If you see a child alone in a vehicle, officials said you should make sure the child is responsive and if not, immediately call 911.

Lexington Herald-Leader

Mike Stunson covers real-time news for McClatchy. He is a 2011 Western Kentucky University graduate who has previously worked at the Paducah Sun and Madisonville Messenger as a sports reporter and the Lexington Herald-Leader as a breaking news reporter. Support my work with a digital subscription